08 Dec Blog: Amendments to the “move-on” period for refugees
This month’s blog focuses on the move-on support provided to individuals with newly granted international protection status, which frequently leaves people who the Government has accepted require sanctuary, facing street homelessness and imminent destitution.
What is Asylum Support?
The Home Secretary has an obligation to provide accommodation and financial support to individuals seeking international protection who are assessed as destitute, while their claim is being determined. This is known as ‘asylum support’ and is most commonly provided under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum act 1999.
The statutory scheme currently provides that asylum support will be terminated 28 days after an individual is granted some form of international protection. The notice period given by the Home Office before ceasing that asylum support is known as the ‘move-on period’. This move-on period has long been a topic of contention and subject to policy change.
Expert homelessness and refugee organisations have long expressed serious concerns about the 28-day move-on period. For example, in December 2018, the British Red Cross published a report showing that the 28-day move-on period often leaves people facing extreme poverty and homelessness and recommending that the move-on period should be extended to at least 56 days.
Background: A History of the Move-On Period
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home Secretary operated a practice of ceasing asylum support 28 days after receipt of a Biometric Residence Permit (“BRP”). This practice resumed after a period of temporary operational adjustments introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce street homelessness.
In August 2023, the Home Secretary significantly changed her policy, calculating the move-on period as commencing on the date of the grant of status, prior to being in receipt of a BRP. In effect, this resulted in individuals having a move-on period as short as seven days in some cases. This change led to devastating levels of destitution and in December 2023 the Home Secretary reverted to her previous practice of calculating the move-on period from the date of receipt of a BRP.
On 5 December 2024, the Home Secretary announced a Pilot policy to extend the move-on period to 56 days from the date of the grant of status, a move which was welcomed by NGOs and front-line agencies who had long been calling for such a change as a way to significantly reduce homelessness of newly granted refugees. In the announcement, the Home Secretary confirmed that the decision had been made as an interim measure during the period of increased decision making and the transition to eVisas and that it would remain in place until June 2025. Before June 2025, it was extended for a further three-months.
Curtailment of the Pilot
On 10 July 2025, the Home Secretary announced that the Pilot would be extended again until the end of 2025, to maintain support for local authorities and newly granted individuals during the continued period of increased decision making, and to allow a full assessment of the impact of the Pilot. However, on 26 August 2025, the Home Secretary announced her unexpected decision to curtail the Pilot for all single adults.
As a result of this curtailment of the Pilot, on 1 September 2025, the move-on period was reverted to 28-days for all single adults who do not fall within the ‘exception criteria’. The ‘exception criteria’ includes pregnant women, persons over the age of 65, persons with a known/evidenced disability, and families. Those falling within the exception criteria continue to receive 56 days’ notice.
The decision to curtail the Pilot appears to have been made with the intention of rapidly reducing the number of asylum seekers accommodated in hotels, as a response to the recent riots and growing public interest on the matter.
Insufficiency of the 28-day Move-On Period
As set out above, the move-on period has long been a subject of significant concern for NGO’s and front-line organisations. The insufficiency of a 28-day move-on period to allow time to source accommodation and to access mainstream benefits, if so required, is well-documented.
There is substantial evidence that a 28-day move-on period is incompatible with the interrelated systems of relevant organisations. In summary:
- to apply for Universal Credit, an individual must have opened a bank account. Many banks will not approve an account for an asylum seeker, and even once they are granted status, individuals often face barriers such as having a valid proof of address and ID;
- claims for Universal Credit usually take an average of five weeks from the date of application until receipt of the first payment. It is therefore not normally possible to be in receipt of Universal Credit prior to the expiry of a 28-day move-on period;
- local Authority interim housing is only available if an individual is assessed as being ‘priority need’. Priority need does not include healthy, single adults and so most individuals affected by the curtailment of the Pilot will not be eligible;
- Local Authorities have a relief duty to assist individuals who are assessed as homeless to source accommodation. This relief duty usually applies for a period of 56 days which is at odds with the 28-day move-on period; and
- it often takes more than 28 days for clients to secure employment. Many refugees suffer from physical or mental health conditions, or speak limited English, which can make it particularly difficult for them to access work.
How to Seek a Reinstatement of Support
Although she has failed to make this clear nor to publish any clear process for seeking extensions of support, the Home Secretary has a discretion to extend the move-on period for individuals. This is otherwise known as a ‘reinstatement request’. This is set out in limited detail in the Home Office’s guidance on ‘Ceasing Section 95 Support instruction’.
DPG is representing a number of individuals who are affected by the curtailment of the Pilot to assist in preventing destitution and street homelessness and, through legal correspondence, the Home Secretary and Migrant Help have confirmed that reinstatement requests should be submitted to:
- reinstatements@homeoffice.gov.uk where the individual is due to be evicted within 48 hours; and
- coc@migranthelpuk.org and positivemoveon@migranthelpuk.org in all other cases. In these cases, a response should be provided by Migrant Help within five working days.
DPG has prepared template extension requests to assist front-line organisations. Please contact Megan Smith (msmith@dpglaw.co.uk) if these would be of assistance.
Conclusion
These NGOs have called on the Government to reverse its decision, reinstating a 56-day move-on period for single adult refugees – safe and essential transition time that aligns with existing support systems – and allowing the full pilot evaluation to complete so that the evidence can be used to make wider improvements to the move-on process.
It is hoped that the Government will take these calls seriously as it is clear that reverting to a move-on period of 56 days would have significant benefits for both refugees, a particularly vulnerable cohort, and the UK as a whole. In 2020, the British Red Cross published a cost-benefit analysis of extending the move-on period to 56 days which concluded that extending the move-on period to 56 days could result in net annual benefits of between £4 million and £7 million to the UK.[1]
Moreover, as Enver Solomon, the CEO of the Refugee Council has rightly said: “For too long refugees have been at risk of becoming homeless at exactly the point the Government grants them safety. Extending the time people have to move on should give men, women and children who have lost everything more of a breathing space to find accommodation and work as they rebuild their lives and contribute to our communities.”[2]
This blog post was prepared with contributions from members of our legal team including: Natalie Hawes, Megan Smith and Emily Soothill. It is for general information and is not intended to be used as legal advice.
[1] This was based on figures from the asylum system in 2020 and the BRC estimate that the savings are likely to be even greater in 2025 due to the size of the asylum backlog and the number of people being granted refugee status.
[2] https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office/media-centre/refugee-council-welcomes-change-to-the-move-on-period-for-refugees/
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